1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method and apparatus for forming thick complex shaped composites into bodies for military vehicles or the like with a minimum of hand labor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art known to Applicant utilizes female molds and hand placing individual pieces of prepreg side by side to form each layer or ply of the laminate and repeating this procedure for each of the many layers. Since gravity would cause the prepreg to fall away from downwardly facing surfaces, the molds were limited to only one half of the structure to be made, and therefore required left and right hand molds. The two half-parts of the object being formed requires a splice joint to form a complete structure. The spliced joints are complex and laborious and of reduced strength relative to the two halves of the object being formed.